ASIAN GAMES Asian Games organizers apologize for volleyball team's bus mix-up
A shuttle bus stop is placed at the main media center at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Thursday. Yonhap
NAGOYA, Japan — The organizing committee of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday apologized to the South Korean men's volleyball team for a transportation mix-up that disrupted its training schedule.
On Monday, the South Korean men's volleyball team was to hold a training session in the morning before its second group stage match against Chinese Taipei in the evening.
The official bus took the team to the wrong location, forcing it to cancel the training session.
"We caused great inconvenience, and the organizing committee takes this seriously," Ayumi Sakamoto, spokesperson for the organizing committee, said during a press conference.
According to the committee, there was an error in assigning buses to the South Korean and Pakistani volleyball teams at their hotel.
The bus assigned to the South Korean team transported the Pakistani team, while another bus reserved for Pakistan picked up the South Korean players.
Due to the bus mix-up, the Pakistani team arrived late at the venue, delaying its preliminary-round match. The South Korean team canceled its morning training session.
"We sincerely apologize to both teams for the inconvenience," the spokesperson said. "It is basic, but we will again make sure boarding teams and vehicle destinations are properly checked and displayed, and work to prevent a recurrence."
South Korean teams have experienced several transportation mishaps at the Games.
The men's national basketball team missed its shootaround a few hours before the final against host Japan on Sept. 20 as its scheduled shuttle bus did not show up.
On Sept. 15, the football team arrived at the stadium for its match against Qatar about 30 minutes later than scheduled after the driver of the team bus got lost on the way.
Its recovery training session was delayed the following day also due to a bus mix-up.